Outlet duct



June 7, 1938. M. M. CLAYTON OUTLET DUCT Filed May 4, 1936 INVENTOR ATTORNEYS Patented June 1, 1938 2,119,777

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE OUTLET nuo'r Martin M. Clayton, Baden, Pa., assignor to National Electric Products Corporation, a corporation of Delaware Application May 4, 1936, Serial No. 77,705

Claims. (Cl. 247 2s) This invention relates to a multiple outlet duct, and contact clips, illustrating the spaced mountor plug-in strip, produced in factory-assembled ing of the contact clips on the wire. unit lengths; and relates more particularly to re- Fig. III is a plan view of the multiple outlet ceptacle elements installed in the conduit or duct corresponding in arrangement of elements 5 housing element of the duct assembly to position with the showing of Fig. I, but omitting the cover 5 conductors and contacts therein, and to the arelement of the duct.

rangement of the conductive wires and contact Fig. IV is a bottom plan view of one of the reelements with respect to the receptacle elements ceptacle elements with the insulating cover plate of the assembly. of the receptacle removed.

In my conductive assembly, by which I intend Fig. V is a bottom plan view of the receptacle 10 to designate the receptacle elements and termielement, but showing the insulating cover plate nal blocks of an assembled unit length of duct, in position thereon. as well as the conducting and associated con- Fig. VI is a cross-sectional view in enlarged tact elements of the unit, it is a matter of imscale, taken in the plane of the section line portance that the contact elements are of such 'VI-VI of Fig. I, showing a receptacle element 15 form and so arranged that they make electrical of the duct in end elevation. contact with more than one face of each of the Fig. VII is a cross-sectional view, on the scale prongs of a contact plug. Also, it is of imporof Fig. VI, through the duct in the plane of the tance that the contact elements of the duct are Section e VIIVII of t t n a readapted mechanically to engage the prongs of Ceptacle element of h d 20 a, plu in a man er t h a wiping t t; In the drawing reference numeral 1 deslgnates with th m, an elongate metallic conduit or housing, which with these problems i i d I 50 form d arhas an integral base and side walls, and which is range the elements of the conductive assembly upwardly p ate c v r 2 0f Suitable of a multiple outlet duct that the receptacles reresilient material, s as ta m t is 25 ceive contact clips in such position th t they prearranged to rest upon the side walls 3 of the houssent an opening between cooperative resilient ing, and t0 have a p engagement with fla ges contact leaves at; prong openings in the rece ta 4 which extend longitudinally Of the housing and cle element of the conductive assembly, and rel-aare Projected laterally a the pp d s of t e tively so arrange the conductive wires and onside Walls 3. Cover 2 terminates short of the .30 tact elements of the assembly that the position Ends 0f the housing 1 to expose terminal b 0 of the wires in the receptacle elements is consist- 5 0f insulating material, d s W ndowed at ent with appropriate presentation of contact clips Spaced t a s fl flut its length o embrace in the manner desired. and expose constricted upper regions 8a of recep- 5 As incidents to the object thus noted, and while iaclc elements e5 attaining it, 1 provide receptacle elements which The receptacle nts 6, which are of muare simple and compact; and I also so mount lating material, and desirably of molded insulaand support th d tin ir i t conduit tion of some sort, serve to receive contact clips or housing of the duct that they lie in an approx I mounted in spaced relation on the conducting 40 imately straight-line position, thus definitely re- Wires 8 and As shown particularly i i s. 40 lating the length of the wires to the length of and VII of the drawing, wch contact p the housing, and thereby fa ilit ti the opera 7 is attached to a region ll) of one of the wires,

from which region the insulation H of the contlon of preparing the conductive assembly for a length of duct and the operation of installing it has been upped make electrical nection with the clip. Each contact clip is an in the duct length.

In the accompanying drawing Fig. I is a 10m integral piece of light gauge metal deflected to rovide leaves la and lb, which are s aced near gitudinal, vertical, sectional view through a fragg bight 1c of the Clip and whichp approach of a multiple ofmet duct each other closely in a region intermediate the illustrating palftlcularly the Position f 9 height of the clip. At its upper end one of the 50 duct n wires in the conduit or housing In legs 71) of the contact clip is curled at its edge cordance with the arrangement of my conductive t receive t Stripped region go of a n- Th assembly. assembly of wire and contact clips is therefore Fig. II is a side elevation of one of the conducone in which the contact clips are mounted on 5 tlve elements proper, namely a conducting wire and depend from the wire. Desirably, penna- 56 nent physical interconnection is made between contact-clips and the wires on which they are ings l3 of the receptacle. As mounted, the contact clips lie in laterally compressed position in recesses l2 of the receptacle, which recesses are in communication upwardly with the prong-receiving openings I3 and are closed beneath by means of a cover plate [4.

Through the side walls 6b of the receptacle are relatively wide downwardly open slots l5 to recei've a short length of the insulated conductor, these slots communicating by means of relatively narrow slots IS with the recesses i2 in which the contact-clips are housed. The cover plate I4 is desirably of light-gauge resilient fibre-plate shaped wholly to close the lower open end of the receptacle. It has a snap engagement in a socket l8 formed in the base of the receptacle block. "In making assembly, the contact clips 1 on each of the conductors are inserted into the aligned recesses 12 of the receptacles, with the open end of each of the clips, and the conductor to which the clip is attached, lying adjacent that end of the receptacle to which prong openings I 3 lead. In so doing the spacing of the receptacles is determined by the linear spacing of the contact clips on the wire, and the conducting wires terminate accurately at the binding posts IQ of the insulating blocks 5 mounted at each end of the housing. As mounted in a position spaced a substantial distance from the base of each receptacle, the conducting wires are vertically in line with the grooves 20 of the terminal blocks prepared for their reception. The conductive assembly may thus be made up as a whole prior to insertion in the housing, and as made up extends an appropriate length in the housing to bring the end faces of the terminal blocks in alignment with the terminal edge of the housing.

Referring particularly to Fig. VII of the drawing, it will be seen that the engagement of the contact clips with the conducting wires is such that the wires neither abbreviate the effective height of the contact clips,nor do they require the use of receptacles and housing of increased depth to receive them. In the assembly, on the contrary, the wires are supported at a convenient height by their attachment to the contact clips and are held in a position in which they donot tend to obstruct full double contact between the clips and contact prongs. The use of the resilient insulating cover plates M, which engage definitely with the body of the receptacle, serves further to integrate the conductive assembly, since the application of these cover plates locks the contact ing wire to depend therefrom, and in assembly to support the wire, solves the problem of obtaining good electrical contact with the conducs tors of the duct while employing conducting wires of simple unspecialized form. This advantage is obtained while also utilizing an elongate housing of simple contour and moderate depth.

I claim as my invention:

1. A mounted electrically conductive assembly for installation in an elongate housing to compose a multiple outlet duct, comprising at least one insulating body formed to contain spring contact clips and to admit attachment plug prongs thereto, contact clips in the form of U-shape members of light gauge metal each arranged in said insulating body to present its open end for the reception of a contact plug prong between its leaves, and conventional conductor wires each bonded to the outer surface of a contact clip leaf adjacent the free end of the leaf to make physical and electrical assembly with the contact clips without obstructing the passage between the leaves of the clips; whereby each contact clip presents to an attachment plug prong the interval between both leaves of the clip and has its full depth available to receive such prong.

2. A conductive assembly in accordance with the combination of claim 1 in which the attachment of each of the conductor wires to a U-shape contact clip is to the outer surface of that leaf of the clip which in assembly lies closer the longitudinal center of the insulating body; whereby in spacing of the contact clips in accommodation to the prong spread of standard attachment plugs the width of the insulating body necessary so to space the contact clips is minimized.

3. A mounted electrically conductive assembly for installation in an elongate housing to compose a multiple outlet duct, comprising at least one insulating body formed to contain spring contact clips and to admit attachment plug prongs bow springs each arranged in said insulating body to present its open end for the reception of a contact plug prong between its leaves, and conventional conductor wires each bonded to the outer surface of a contact clip leaf adjacent the end of the leaf to make physical and electrical assembly with the contact clips without obstructing the passage between the leaves of the clips, the said contact clip leaves to which the conductor wires are bonded being hooked over the wires in the region of bonding to relieve the bond of the strain resulting from prong insertion between the contact clip leaves; the said contact clip in such assembly with the conductor wire having its entire depth available to receive an attachment plug prong and thereby to minimize the necessary depth of the insulating body containing the contact clips.

4. A conductive assembly in accordance with the combination of claim 3 in which theattachment of each of the conductor wires to a U-shape spring contact clip is to the outer surface of that leaf of the clip which in assembly lies closer the longitudinal center of the insulating body; whereby in spacing of the contact clips in accommodation to the prong spread of standard attachment plugs the width of the insulating body necessary so to space the contact clips is minimized.

5. For installation in a multiple outlet duct length as a preformed electrically conductive element adapted to make electrical connection with pronged attachment plugs an insulated wire of conventional i'orm having the insulation thereof stripped at spaced intervals therealong, and U- shape bow spring contact clips each suspended from the said wireand having the free end of one leaf of each hooked over and bonded to a conductor wire in a region thereof from which 10 the insulation has been stripped to provide a 

